The deathly regents

The deathly regents' origin

The Death is omnipotent, no doubt, but even He was unable to handle such a long line of newly-come souls to the Afterworld when epochs ago humanity was so rude and greedy to start wars, killing each other in bitter battles for power and territories. Day by day The Death was wearing Himself out, accompanying the dead on their last journey. Being drained and weary, He concluded that the time to share His power of the Afterworld had come, and a need in the heir was the agenda. There was only one problem–His heir had to be born. Only living things were capable of giving birth, but The Death's touch was lethal. The despair and tiredness were pressing Him, before one day He heard a legend about a curseress who had deceived The Death Himself. The curiosity engulfed Him. Who is powerful enough to trick The Death? he thought. If that person truly existed, was she able to solve the problem He had? And would she agree to it?

The Death spent days and nights in search for the most powerful and almighty curseress in the world, and when He found her, The Death was stunned by her beauty and the recognition didn't flash in His eyes immediately.

The deadly kissed they called her for what had happened to her. This was the girl He had come to take her soul in infancy dozens of circles ago, but, to His surprise, she refused to leave her body–the baby who could not even talk. He had not ever experienced anything like that and would never feel that again. Regina was the only one who had stood up to The Death and had saved her soul.

Seeing The Death approach, Regina tilted her head and greeted Him as an old friend of hers. She remembered him, although she had been too small to understand what had been going on around her, and it was not the only strange thing.

Regina the deadly kissed heard The Death out. When He was finishing His speech and almost begged to help Him for any price He could afford, the only words she said to Him were we are bond to each other, and withdrew to the library she had inherited from her foremothers and buried herself in the ancient books and notes, looking for any mentions of a spell or mojo to become living and dead simultaneously. Living for giving a birth, dead for The Death to touch her flesh body and not to put the curseress to death.

Time had passed. Hot, sunny days had been replaced by cool winds and torrential rains, cool winds and torrential rains by biting frosts and falling snowflakes, biting frosts and falling snowflakes by blossoming trees and green grass. The day Regina came to The Death, she asked him for a cost–for giving a birth to their children He would leave her alone to live on the earth an untold number of days, never trying to find her and to take her soul to the Afterworld.

The Death agreed. Cementing the bargain by the blood bounds, He reclined with Regina the deadly kissed that night. Forty four weeks later the curseress gave birth to five boys. Despite the fact she was the most powerful and almighty curseress in the world and even The Death had gifted her with His integrity, the soul of Regina the deadly kissed was taken by her own children.

The beauty and courage of the curseress left a lasting impression, and The Death, lest to perpetuate the name of the fearless and ingenious woman in flesh, declared His sons regents–in their mother Regina's honor. That day the deathly regents started their new way.

The Death's sons–Surm, Mort, Tod, Smert, and Oti grew up faster than He expected. They became youths in the twinkling of an eye, and The Death started teaching them to be the deathly regents. At that time, He noticed that His sons inherited not only different eyes–a black eye from Him and a blue one from Regina. The first-born deathly regents were immortal and had a lethal touch, but, unlike their Father, they could be harmed or killed by saint silver.

Once when The Death heirs went to their first collecting, Oti was to take the soul of a curseress, but fell in love with the village girl and left her be and abandoned a small house with a scent of herbs and salt, being confident she could not see him. Nevertheless, the curseress knew Oti was there and prevented him from leaving. After listening to Oti's story about why he had chosen to go away, Marinette–the curseress–extended her hands toward him, backing Oti to come closer. She refused to live without the deathly regent and was ready to die, but to feel his lips over her own, even if it meant it would be the last what she would feel in her life. But when their lips joined in a kiss, Marinette did not drop dead in his arms. This was a true miracle for the inhabitants of Afterworld, thanks to which they found out the regents were able not only to take souls, but to give too.

Since that day thousands of new regents had been born by bond of originals and curseresses, but with each generation they got weaker and weaker. Eras after, the regents became barren and deadly-touched. One of the sons–Mort–accidentally overheard the conversation between his Father and Agata–the most powerful curseress of that time. Unbelieving his own ears, Mort summoned his brothers and confided that The Death bargained with the curseress to curse His own heirs to end regents reproducing. Infuriated by their Father's decision, Surm, Mort, Tod, Smert, and Oti gathered all the powers they had and ganged up against The Death. The Death's sons exterminated every curseress in the world, leaving Agata for last out of their revenge on The Death's for ending the line of regents and invaded their Father's refuge. That war was named the Deathly Battle.

The Death appeared to be the one who survived that battle. The last of the sons, that was dying in His arms, was told 'My son, my dear Tod. I tried so hard to prevent it, but your and your brothers' ego took its part. I bargained with Agata the curseress to save my sons from their own greediness. I had fathered you to be my heirs, but my sons were so eager to rule the mortal world that they forgot it. Power blinds, my son.'

When the saint silver pierced the heart of The Death's last son, the war found its end, and peace came in the Afterworld. The Death handed over His power to the remains of freshly-born regents and departed so no one knew where to mourn His sons.